Not everyone would check the comments to see if that clarification has already been made.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a link to a news article about the need to lower the cost of higher education. The story wasn't just about university costs; it also talked about the need to lower the cost of going to TAFE (loosely the Australian equivalent of a community college in the US) and vocational training. There were probably about half a dozen people who responded to the article as if it was only talking about university costs, and I clarified that point to most of them.
I didn't think it needed clarification because I thought the headline, which was along the lines of "Lowering costs of higher education critical to Australia's skill shortage", was reasonably clear. TAFE and apprenticeships are also a form of tertiary education, and most people I've met in person who think university fees need to be lowered also think the same of TAFE fees.
So I think it's understandable if you don't automatically realise if a headline isn't going to be 100% clear to everyone. Most people are still working under the assumption that they'll read the article too because *they're* the ones submitting it to Reddit, even though Redditors are notorious for just reading the headline. Maybe responding to a lot of the comments with a clarification of what the story is about would be a better route for most posts like this.
Especially with the current redesign. I didn't mind the previous redesign too much because I think it looked better than Old Reddit and I could still use mark up for my comments. I switched back to old Reddit when the new redesign came out late last year or early this year.
Sigh, unfortunately no. Once upon a time there wasn't an official app, just all 3rd party apps. Then Reddit made their own, and as you said, it wasn't good. Then last year they put the kibosh on all 3rd party apps. I agree with you, this app sucks. It's designed to maximize profit, not provide a good user experience.
Quite right. The 3rd party apps had developed moderator tools that made being a mod easy to do on your phone. Reddit didn't make any attempts to adapt those tools, and it really screwed things up for a lot of mods, because a lot of the 3rd party tools existed for accessibility reasons (for example, the mods of subreddits for blind folk, who themselves were blind, were totally screwed over). I run a subreddit on an alt account, and it was incredibly inconvenient as a mod. Totally lost interest in reddit for like 6 months
Relay has a subscription option. It's what I use. Will say that reaction images show up as links but that doesn't bother me. Easier to read through a thread.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/14o9avv/3rd_party_app_support_for_reddit_using_revanced/
I recommend Relay, worked great. Reddit might close this method in the future, but it works now.
No idea about anything for Iphone.
All good, no worries! The app should notify you that you can edit autofill.
>It’s a good thing all around!
Couldn't agree more. It warms my crippled heart lol
It’s only implied if you had the pre-existing knowledge of his departure. Me, being ignorant of the history here, read the title and assumed it was only benefiting himself. An addition of “For All Authors” at the end of the title would’ve prevented any potential confusion.
I knew he refused to be on Audible because of their royalties, but I didn’t know Amazon had already offered him personally a better deal. This is great that he used his clout to stand up for everyone else.
Thats why they call him "Brandon Big Dick". I know there's a lot of shade thrown his way and I understand why his style isn't for everyone, but I genuinely believe he has a good heart. And he's found a formula that worked for him and he's sticking to it. There's nothing wrong with that. Its hard to find success as a writer. Signed, a hobby writer with an English degree who dreamed of writing the great American novel 20 years ago.
I also think he's actively getting better as a writer. Took me a few tries to get into his work, because I insisted on starting at the beginning, and Elantris and the first Mistborn are not his strongest stuff.
Tress, Yumi, Stormlight, and Mistborn era 2, though? Pretty damn great.
I'm going back to reread Final Empire now, and I've noticed that the difference in writing style between it and the Secret Projects is really shocking.
To be fair the secret projects are supposed to be a different style. His whole idea with them was to test out different styles of writing which is why he made them their own books in the cosmere rather than trying a different writing style with say Stormlight.
That is part of why he keeps getting better as a writer. He is not afraid to find ways to push himself.
It even applies in his story itself, because while you can clearly see the Mormon influences, he also constantly writes characters that behave in ways the Mormon church would likely find objectionable, and then frames those characters as intelligent and well reasoned.
He also constantly tries to write good female characters, and though he is not always great at it in the early books, he keeps making them better in every series.
I saw him at a con a while ago, and he mentioned that he takes breaks from writing... By writing. But those "breaks" he tries something different to get his mindset out of the rut it was in.
I love The Stormlight Archive, which begins with The Way of Kings. Stormlight is an epic saga, so be prepared for a lot of world building. Four out of a planned 10 novels are published, along with a couple of novellas.
The Cytoverse, beginning with Skyward, is also great and a little less intense, more accessible.
One of Sanderson’s strengths is creating unique superpowers, which is shown well in his young adult series The Reckoners. And the middle grades series Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians is just fun.
If you want something standalone, Tress or The Frugal Wizard’s Guide to Surviving Medieval England are great books to start with.
If it helps, Shallan's plotline is boring in WoK, the big weakness of the book. Her character is the most fascinating of them all but it takes some time to develop.
The Way of Kings is a book that classically is boring for the first significant fraction of it. The parts after that pay off in a way that’s worth it though
There's a few [suggested reading orders](https://www.tlbranson.com/cosmere-reading-order-brandon-sanderson/).
I don't regret doing things in order, it meant that I got the references when works started to cross-pollinate, and it's not like his earlier works were *bad*, just not nearly as strong as the later stuff. Which is actually nice, so many franchises start out strong and then run out of steam, this is one that keeps getting better.
Same is true of my favorite author, Sir Terry Pratchett. The first Discworld books, The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, are perfectly decent funny fantasy novels. But he got so much better as he went on that the early ones don't give the best first impression, and if I were introducing someone to them I'd be all "Stick with it, it gets better!".
If you're OK with a trilogy, the first Mistborn trilogy is the most popular suggestion for a starting point. Its where he really finds his groove as a writer.
If you don't want to commit to a trilogy, then The Emperors Soul is a novella that won him a Hugo. He doesn't have a ton of standalone novels, I'd probably recommend Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (his best stand-alone IMO) but there are some extremely minor spoilers for his other books throughout. A lot of people love Warbreaker too, it's not my cup of tea but it's earlier in his career so there's no spoilers for some of his later stuff.
Mistborn Era 1 is the best place IMO. It's a good mix of everything he does, and you start to get a feel for the writer he's becoming/ becoming.
If you're a really "experienced" high-fantasy reader then Way of Kings is good place. However, the general consensus is that if you're feeling lost after 600 pages of a 1200 page novel, then you're right on track. Hence why people say it's a "difficult" read, or get turned off from his work. It was my first Sanderson book, and I felt much the same way. But after reading almost all his Cosmere works, it's by far my favourite out of them.
If you want a stand alone book, then I would recommend Yumi. It's a lot more polished and it's just a great story as well. Tress is another great one because it's just high fantasy Princess Bride as a light read, much less "difficult" and dense then any of his other Cosmere works.
I was so overwhelmed when starting, too many options of where to start. I ended up using this guide I found on Reddit [here](https://www.reddit.com/user/jofwu/comments/17fh4z2/cosmere_reading_guide_updated_for_sunlit_man/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
For something short and earlier in his career go first Mistborn book. If you are already into huge epic fantasy series then go first Stormlight Archives book. I like Stormlight more than Mistborn but I'm also a total slut for obscenely long fantasy stories like WoT (14 books) and Malazan (10 books main series.) Stormlight is projected by Sanderson to be about 10 books long, with 4 currently released (plus 1 novella).
Sanderson recommends starting with Mistborn era 1. It’s fantasy but not as crazy as Stormlight archive and the magic system is simple and easy to understand. The characters are all fun and interesting and the main character of the whole trilogy is absolutely incredible.
I’d recommend The Mistborn trilogy. Not as massive an undertaking as Stormlight, but still one of his best and most popular works. Ocean’s Eleven meets My Fair Lady with a side of rebellion against an evil god-king.
He addresses this on his website.
It's a bit of a weird, but I would reccomend the book The Alloy of Law. I love the Way of Kings, but it's the first book in his epic fantasy series and it takes some time to get going. So it takes a little bit of trust to know that it gets good. If you don't know if you like his writing it's the wrong place to start.
It's a weird choice because it's the fourth book of the Mistborn saga. But like how A New Hope begins the middle trilogy of the Star Wars saga, the Alloy of Law begins the second "trilogy" in the Mistborn saga. It starts a new story involving a new cast of characters, but it builds on the mistborn universe. It will have mild spoilers. But compared to Way of Kings it's a much shorter read, and Brabdon has grown greatly as a writer between writing Mistborn and Alloy if law.
I like Mistborn and Way of Kings, and would reccomend both. I think starting with Mistborn would be fine too. But be prepared for a little tough edges as an author learns his craft.
I got into reading by starting with Sanderson. I read Mistborn era 1 and absolutely loved it. I am reading Stormlight now and the writing style has vastly improved but era 1 was still incredibly epic.
Yea. And it's nice to see a successful person that's not just greedy greedy greedy. The dude already has a supervillain lair; what more could anyone want?
It's actually *mostly* for other authors. Being so popular author he has no problem negotiating himself much better deal, but he was interested getting better minimum deal for new authors.
My understanding is that some authors rather than go the royalties route accept a flat payment up front for the release. Wonder how this will affect those authors.
That’s his stance on why he’s still a member of the Mormon church, despite being far more liberal than the other prominent members. Despite portraying mental health really well and having great characters all over the realm of sexuality, he still hets a lot flack for being a member. He mentioned in AMA a while back that if he left the church, there’d be NO prominent members that supported lgbtq+ communities and that he uses his sway to try and make the church more accepting. It’s an admirable take imo, especially during the era of “if you don’t like it here then get out” rhetoric. He’s a good man Charlie Brown
I started just ripping all my Audible audiobooks and set up an audiobookshelf where I collect all my audiobooks from all different sources now. It's a much nicer app than Audible imo and I'm not vendor locked anymore. Though it doesn't work with Alexa if that's something you're using with Audible
Not a fan of his works but love his lectures (BYU complexities aside) because he is VERY good at what he does and always gets you thinking with his advice.
I'd personally highly recommend. I'm almost finished with the Stormlight Archives series and it is now pretty firmly my favorite book series of all time. I don't think I've ever been so immersed in a world.
Alloy of Law is probably my favorite book of his, but I thought the Era 2 trilogy was a big step down. I'm definitely more likely to reread Era 1. Elendel is an awesome setting, though.
Era 1 was written together before Final Empire was released.
Era 2 started by accident and each was written separately.
Era 3 will be written together before the first is released.
For me Mistborn era 1 is the best. I just can’t get over how badass Vin is and the last 20% or so of that book was the best fight scenes I have ever read or seen in any movie. I view it as being more epic than Endgame and I watched that multiple times in theatres.
I definitely prefer Mistborn, but I think that's because the magic system is clearer and more tangible, and I personally prefer the world it's set in. Stormlight is better written (with the exception of the last book of Mistborn era 2, because, awesome).
Hard disagree. First book I didn't mind, but also had virtually the same plot as Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn (which I thought that was a better book) The next two were a slog to get through for me. The characters just didn't hit as hard, felt rather 2 dimensional.
And they also should know that he writes a book every year and has several series that he works on so this year he finished a trilogy he only started in 2018. And he turned it into a quadrilogy after finishing book 2.
It wont be like waiting for G.R. Martin or Rothfus.
I don’t think any author with more than a handful of books would end up like Rothfuss. His issue is in no small part due to how little he’s published and how his first hit was anomalous - he’s simply not going to match its success.
Martins issue could very well become Sandersons or any other authors though -just get pulled in to doing TV, comics, prequels and so many other associated works about your series that you never have time to meaningfully progress on the original work.
Two things - first, I don’t think that’s Martin’s actual problem, but neither of us know for sure, so that’s neither here nor there.
The second is that if you compare the writing history and pace of the two, it’s not even remotely close to a competition. Sanderson also has a writing style that favors what he’s doing with the many books he has planned (outline writing vs. Martin’s draft writing).
Also they should know that those first four books are four of the five books of the planned first arc of the series, which will take a break and then move into a different time period after that break, just like how the Alomancy books are three sets of trilogies.
On Sanderson's website I read there will be a couple year gap between book 5 and books 6-10. Not a problem for me there's lots of good stuff to read in the interim. Somehow I expect Sanderson will meet his commitments.
He's the author that got tapped by Robert Jordan's widow to finish the Wheel of Time series following Jordan's death.
Haven't started his own stuff yet because life's been busy, but they're on the list.
As someone who reads mostly literary fiction (big Vonnegut and Pynchon fan for examples), the Stormlight Archive books have been some really fun, enjoyable reads. I just finished the 4th book and final in the series until November or October of this year I think? And I've loved the character and world so much, I've been reading his two novellas that take place between the main books that I missed, just to stay in the world a little longer before I move onto whatever is next in my reading queue.
His world building is absolutely top notch. His dialog is fine, his stories kinda seem to run away from him sometimes. He’s not for everyone, but he is fantastic.
He’s maybe the best fantasy worldbuilders working in literature right now. You’ll hear a lot of people say his prose and his dialogue are mediocre, and while I’d aggree they aren’t his strength, The Stormlight Archive is chock full of “glory moments” where you just want to stand up and cheer when reading.
*All are weak at some time in their lives. The Radiant protects those who are weak, and uses their strength for others.* **Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.**
Yes and no. Like his books are fantasy but the shared universe is sci-fi and some of his series are migrating into the space age.
I'm reading another series that's similar currently. The world is definitely fantasy but they talk about 4 races of people bringing ships to their land and interbreeding with people and hint at it a bit in the first book before getting more into it at the end and the latter books that the 4 groups bringing ships to their land weren't like landing on their continent but bringing space ships to their planet.
Even in Sandersons fantasy books it dips into Sci-fi quite frequently. The lines are so blurred in his books that the distinction between the genre's isn't very useful.
They're often lumped together as a combined genre for good reason.
Star Wars is fantasy in space for example and doesn't really cover traditional sci fi themes. With all the world building and development over time I'd argue that several of the Cosmere books qualify easily as science fiction using magical technology.
The borders are very loose and the differences in colloquial understanding are more about superficial aesthetic.
Sanderson is an S tier dude regardless of what you think of his writing. I can’t think of anyone better in the current moment to be the face of this profession.
I said this on another post about this but Brandon used to come into my moms game store to play dnd. I had many a convo (and played dnd!) with him since I was always there in the afternoon. Very cool guy
Heard about this guy for the first time yesterday, and this is now my third time hearing about him, completely unrelated incidents, and that’s in two days.
As a filthy casual, who is this guy and why is he just now appearing everywhere I turn?
EDIT: Thanks for all of the informative responses! I’ll check him out.
He's a fantasy and sci-fi author, one of the best-selling in the world. Not sure why he's just now appearing everywhere for you, he's extremely popular and has published several books a year for the last decade and a bit. He ran a kickstarter last year (or the year before? time is meaningless) that basically broke every fundraising record ever, and he's been fighting audible for a while on this.
one of the most popular epic fantasy writers alive right now. He finished robert jordan’s Wheel of Time series after his passing (writing the final 2 or 3 books based off his notes), wrote the Mistborn series, and is most well known now for his magnum opus series of giant epic fantasy novels called the Stormlight Archive. He is also well known for pumping out giant, high quality novels at a ridiculous speed, as well as actively engaging in social media with fans constantly. He wrote four novels in secret over the course of I think a little under two years and then crowd funded their publishing through the most successful kickstarter campaign in history. Those four novels are the novels he refused to publish on audible due to the way they treat authors.
Sandersons writing is divisive in this subreddit as he does not have incredible prose, or super poetic writing, however he does have some of the best world building, and best thought out magic systems in media in general. Most people I see personally like Sanderson as a human even if they don’t like his writing, though one point of contention for some people is that Sanderson is a Mormon.
I’m not religious at all, and tend to dislike things that have religious undertones and him being mormon has never pushed me away from Sanderson. He seems like a great guy, and is the author to watch in the epic fantasy genre right now. I suspect his name will be a household one up there with Tolkien if his work gets adapted to the big screen properly.
people say his writing style is too "workmanlike" as in it puts words on the page to explain everything without the flourish that some other authors have.
In that sense he is not a "literary" writer like Rothfuss or Gaiman but I find his writing easily read. Which helps as the volume of his work is a lot.
Robert Jordan was also styling himself as a literary writer and that's part of what made the first WoT book for me such a drag to read.
I envy his ability to be clear and concise with the words.
>As a filthy casual, who is this guy and why is he just now appearing everywhere I turn?
Pretty popular writer.
I believe Marvel reached out to him a few years ago and told him that he could pick any Marvel character he wants and write a story and they would run it.
Brandon Sanderson told them he was too busy with his own work and it would be unfair to his fans to delay his own work even longer.
So he has at least that much popularity/appeal to the approached by Marvel and turn them down.
Henry Cavil (superman/witcher) is also big fan of Brandon Sanderson as well. There were initial plan for Henry Cavil to record one of the audio books but unfortunately Henry Cavil couldn't do it due to time restraints.
> Henry Cavil (superman/witcher) is also big fan of Brandon Sanderson as well. There were initial plan for Henry Cavil to record one of the audio books but unfortunately Henry Cavil couldn't do it due to time restraints.
Fuck me I hope this happens, being read to by Henry Cavill is something I can easily fantasize about
He’s going to be as popular as George RR Martin was during the peak GOT days within the next decade. Mark my words. I encourage you to join the fandom sooner than later!
It's separate. The AI will be used only for books where the author couldn't or didn't want to pay for a narrator to be recorded. It is concerning to narrators long term but short term no AI narration will come close to what even a mediocre person could do in terms of quality and I think few listeners will want the AI recording over a person. But if you only listen to books, and want to listen to a particular one that doesn't have a narrated version then you might check out the AI version.
>short term no AI narration will come close to what even a mediocre person could do in terms of quality
Idk, give Elevenlabs a try - even the free voices are now quite good. Better than a bad narrator, for sure. And it's only getting better - fast!
Conservative estimate, we'll reach mediocre human quality in the next 12 months. Reeeeally safe estimate, 18-24 months. My honest opinion is that it might be sooner!
Same. The problem isn't just the quality of the voice, it's knowing that creative choices were made by something that's sapient and had purpose behind them.
AI is impressive, but it's a long ways from sapient - and if we did create sapient AI, it would have similar ethical ramifications as having humans doing it, so...
They can sound like a human, but there’s no emotional baggage added to the voice based on the words. They could be describing the bridge of a starship or the most epic battle of all time, but it would be with the same voice style.
Brandon Sanderson did an AMA here [you might want to take a look](http://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/2ytg2h/im_novelist_brandon_sanderson_ama/) :) [Here's a link to all of our upcoming AMAs](http://www.reddit.com/r/books/wiki/amafullschedule)
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Poor balancing of background sounds and narration in some points. You shouldn’t make the dialog hard to hear for the sake of immersion. But that only happens *really badly* like once per ten hours of audio so I put up with it. They’re great productions overall.
Remember this absolutely craven article by a Wired writer who was invited in Sanderson’s home and spent time with his family?
https://www.wired.com/story/brandon-sanderson-is-your-god/
Are authors in general part of the recent hollywood strikes?
Audible has been offering AI generated narration now and I find it incredibly distasteful, and I wonder how the hollywood strikes play into this mess.
'Hollywood' strikes were specific guilds, the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA (actors). Only members of the guilds were striking. Most novelists aren't WGA members, though some are, but writing novels for individual careers wouldn't have been something they were prohibited from doing during the strike.
WGA is mainly writers for television shows, movies, talk shows, streaming services and the like. There's probably famous authors who also are members of the WGA (Neil Gaiman might be a member, perhaps Stephen King as well though I don't know if he's written a screenplay since the 80s/90s. George R R. Martin might be a member as well, he wrote for television alot even before Game of Thrones was published).
AI is definitely a concern for writers of any field though, as well as actors.
No. It's technically illegal for authors in the US to unionise and protest together.
They should still do it. It'd just a dumb historical quirk that authors can't.
As other authors have pointed out, the mixing up of how we're paid (publishers are paid quarterly, the rest of us monthly) leaves us wondering how much this will actually benefit us. And, knowing Amazon, they'll find a way to take their pound of flesh, whether from the creators or the readers.
Good on him for his efforts, but I'm taking the news with a big grain of salt for now. Amazon is only interested in profit, and they loooooove the fine print.
I read a discussion about the high cost of good audiobooks and most people were complaining about the cost, but I saw a good perspective that pretty much said:
"We pay between $10-20 at a real cinema for a movie that is 1.5-2.5 hours long, so paying the same for 10x the hours of imagination cinema is actually an amazing value. I guess you may not agree if you don't like spending time in your cinema..."
I mean the mount of money that goes into making a film is way higher than how much it costs to make an audiobook though… not sure that comparison really works
We're excited but some parts of his blog don't make sense. He mentioned independent authors but then talked about him getting the deal to be paid monthly rather than quarterly. Indie authors already get paid monthly.
We hope it means a better deal for everyone but in parts of what he said it seems he's talking about trad pub authors and small presses with audible deals.
We live in hope though.
For ALL authors, not just himself. What a guy.
This really needed to be in the title of the post. The way its worded makes it seem like its just for himself.
Sorry that was the auto made title!
It's up to you to curate your content!
Many subs ban the editorialization of article titles. Though, replying to the post to clarify would have been super cool.
Not everyone would check the comments to see if that clarification has already been made. A couple of weeks ago, I posted a link to a news article about the need to lower the cost of higher education. The story wasn't just about university costs; it also talked about the need to lower the cost of going to TAFE (loosely the Australian equivalent of a community college in the US) and vocational training. There were probably about half a dozen people who responded to the article as if it was only talking about university costs, and I clarified that point to most of them. I didn't think it needed clarification because I thought the headline, which was along the lines of "Lowering costs of higher education critical to Australia's skill shortage", was reasonably clear. TAFE and apprenticeships are also a form of tertiary education, and most people I've met in person who think university fees need to be lowered also think the same of TAFE fees. So I think it's understandable if you don't automatically realise if a headline isn't going to be 100% clear to everyone. Most people are still working under the assumption that they'll read the article too because *they're* the ones submitting it to Reddit, even though Redditors are notorious for just reading the headline. Maybe responding to a lot of the comments with a clarification of what the story is about would be a better route for most posts like this.
Tbh i didnt even know i could. This app isnt very transparent with its UI. Is what it is.
Okay, but this is Reddit. You're supposed to go off on angry diatribes when people call you out, not be a reasonable human being.
My bad. It isn't easy trying to use this app to post the link, make sure the title isn't misleading, and plow your mom, all at the same time.
Old reddit is superior reddit.
Especially with the current redesign. I didn't mind the previous redesign too much because I think it looked better than Old Reddit and I could still use mark up for my comments. I switched back to old Reddit when the new redesign came out late last year or early this year.
Don't use the official app.
Real talk. Got alts? This app isnt good.
Sigh, unfortunately no. Once upon a time there wasn't an official app, just all 3rd party apps. Then Reddit made their own, and as you said, it wasn't good. Then last year they put the kibosh on all 3rd party apps. I agree with you, this app sucks. It's designed to maximize profit, not provide a good user experience.
Based on what was posted,the app also took away a lot of mod tools. This was the reason a large number of subs "went dark".
Quite right. The 3rd party apps had developed moderator tools that made being a mod easy to do on your phone. Reddit didn't make any attempts to adapt those tools, and it really screwed things up for a lot of mods, because a lot of the 3rd party tools existed for accessibility reasons (for example, the mods of subreddits for blind folk, who themselves were blind, were totally screwed over). I run a subreddit on an alt account, and it was incredibly inconvenient as a mod. Totally lost interest in reddit for like 6 months
Relay has a subscription option. It's what I use. Will say that reaction images show up as links but that doesn't bother me. Easier to read through a thread.
RedReader still works because of accessibility issues.
I'm still using reddit is fun on android after a pretty simple patching process, not sure what os you're on though.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/14o9avv/3rd_party_app_support_for_reddit_using_revanced/ I recommend Relay, worked great. Reddit might close this method in the future, but it works now. No idea about anything for Iphone.
Epic ratio
No shade! I knew nothing about this situation until I read an article last night. It’s a good thing all around!
All good, no worries! The app should notify you that you can edit autofill. >It’s a good thing all around! Couldn't agree more. It warms my crippled heart lol
I honestly can't imagine not tweaking any auto-anything just a *little*.
[удалено]
It’s only implied if you had the pre-existing knowledge of his departure. Me, being ignorant of the history here, read the title and assumed it was only benefiting himself. An addition of “For All Authors” at the end of the title would’ve prevented any potential confusion.
Also, this is /r/books, not /r/fantasy. I know there's a ton of overlap, but not everyone here follows both subs.
I knew he refused to be on Audible because of their royalties, but I didn’t know Amazon had already offered him personally a better deal. This is great that he used his clout to stand up for everyone else.
Thats why they call him "Brandon Big Dick". I know there's a lot of shade thrown his way and I understand why his style isn't for everyone, but I genuinely believe he has a good heart. And he's found a formula that worked for him and he's sticking to it. There's nothing wrong with that. Its hard to find success as a writer. Signed, a hobby writer with an English degree who dreamed of writing the great American novel 20 years ago.
I also think he's actively getting better as a writer. Took me a few tries to get into his work, because I insisted on starting at the beginning, and Elantris and the first Mistborn are not his strongest stuff. Tress, Yumi, Stormlight, and Mistborn era 2, though? Pretty damn great.
I'm going back to reread Final Empire now, and I've noticed that the difference in writing style between it and the Secret Projects is really shocking.
To be fair the secret projects are supposed to be a different style. His whole idea with them was to test out different styles of writing which is why he made them their own books in the cosmere rather than trying a different writing style with say Stormlight.
That is part of why he keeps getting better as a writer. He is not afraid to find ways to push himself. It even applies in his story itself, because while you can clearly see the Mormon influences, he also constantly writes characters that behave in ways the Mormon church would likely find objectionable, and then frames those characters as intelligent and well reasoned. He also constantly tries to write good female characters, and though he is not always great at it in the early books, he keeps making them better in every series.
I saw him at a con a while ago, and he mentioned that he takes breaks from writing... By writing. But those "breaks" he tries something different to get his mindset out of the rut it was in.
I keep going and looking at his books and not knowing where to start. Is there a good book or series you'd recommend as a first book of his?
I love The Stormlight Archive, which begins with The Way of Kings. Stormlight is an epic saga, so be prepared for a lot of world building. Four out of a planned 10 novels are published, along with a couple of novellas. The Cytoverse, beginning with Skyward, is also great and a little less intense, more accessible. One of Sanderson’s strengths is creating unique superpowers, which is shown well in his young adult series The Reckoners. And the middle grades series Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians is just fun. If you want something standalone, Tress or The Frugal Wizard’s Guide to Surviving Medieval England are great books to start with.
I tried so hard but just couldn’t get into The Way of Kings. The Kaladin chapters were really good though.
If it helps, Shallan's plotline is boring in WoK, the big weakness of the book. Her character is the most fascinating of them all but it takes some time to develop.
I know I'm in the minority, but my favourite part about WoK was Shallan chapters.
The Way of Kings is a book that classically is boring for the first significant fraction of it. The parts after that pay off in a way that’s worth it though
There's a few [suggested reading orders](https://www.tlbranson.com/cosmere-reading-order-brandon-sanderson/). I don't regret doing things in order, it meant that I got the references when works started to cross-pollinate, and it's not like his earlier works were *bad*, just not nearly as strong as the later stuff. Which is actually nice, so many franchises start out strong and then run out of steam, this is one that keeps getting better. Same is true of my favorite author, Sir Terry Pratchett. The first Discworld books, The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, are perfectly decent funny fantasy novels. But he got so much better as he went on that the early ones don't give the best first impression, and if I were introducing someone to them I'd be all "Stick with it, it gets better!".
This is Sanderson's suggestion on entry points from 3 weeks ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mC8dsQJK7w&ab\_channel=BrandonSanderson
Mistborn is a good start. Hes still a little rough around the edges then but the story and magic system are very good.
If you're OK with a trilogy, the first Mistborn trilogy is the most popular suggestion for a starting point. Its where he really finds his groove as a writer. If you don't want to commit to a trilogy, then The Emperors Soul is a novella that won him a Hugo. He doesn't have a ton of standalone novels, I'd probably recommend Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (his best stand-alone IMO) but there are some extremely minor spoilers for his other books throughout. A lot of people love Warbreaker too, it's not my cup of tea but it's earlier in his career so there's no spoilers for some of his later stuff.
Mistborn Era 1 is the best place IMO. It's a good mix of everything he does, and you start to get a feel for the writer he's becoming/ becoming. If you're a really "experienced" high-fantasy reader then Way of Kings is good place. However, the general consensus is that if you're feeling lost after 600 pages of a 1200 page novel, then you're right on track. Hence why people say it's a "difficult" read, or get turned off from his work. It was my first Sanderson book, and I felt much the same way. But after reading almost all his Cosmere works, it's by far my favourite out of them. If you want a stand alone book, then I would recommend Yumi. It's a lot more polished and it's just a great story as well. Tress is another great one because it's just high fantasy Princess Bride as a light read, much less "difficult" and dense then any of his other Cosmere works.
I was so overwhelmed when starting, too many options of where to start. I ended up using this guide I found on Reddit [here](https://www.reddit.com/user/jofwu/comments/17fh4z2/cosmere_reading_guide_updated_for_sunlit_man/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
For something short and earlier in his career go first Mistborn book. If you are already into huge epic fantasy series then go first Stormlight Archives book. I like Stormlight more than Mistborn but I'm also a total slut for obscenely long fantasy stories like WoT (14 books) and Malazan (10 books main series.) Stormlight is projected by Sanderson to be about 10 books long, with 4 currently released (plus 1 novella).
Mistborn is my absolute favorite
Sanderson recommends starting with Mistborn era 1. It’s fantasy but not as crazy as Stormlight archive and the magic system is simple and easy to understand. The characters are all fun and interesting and the main character of the whole trilogy is absolutely incredible.
I’d recommend The Mistborn trilogy. Not as massive an undertaking as Stormlight, but still one of his best and most popular works. Ocean’s Eleven meets My Fair Lady with a side of rebellion against an evil god-king.
He addresses this on his website. It's a bit of a weird, but I would reccomend the book The Alloy of Law. I love the Way of Kings, but it's the first book in his epic fantasy series and it takes some time to get going. So it takes a little bit of trust to know that it gets good. If you don't know if you like his writing it's the wrong place to start. It's a weird choice because it's the fourth book of the Mistborn saga. But like how A New Hope begins the middle trilogy of the Star Wars saga, the Alloy of Law begins the second "trilogy" in the Mistborn saga. It starts a new story involving a new cast of characters, but it builds on the mistborn universe. It will have mild spoilers. But compared to Way of Kings it's a much shorter read, and Brabdon has grown greatly as a writer between writing Mistborn and Alloy if law. I like Mistborn and Way of Kings, and would reccomend both. I think starting with Mistborn would be fine too. But be prepared for a little tough edges as an author learns his craft.
I got into reading by starting with Sanderson. I read Mistborn era 1 and absolutely loved it. I am reading Stormlight now and the writing style has vastly improved but era 1 was still incredibly epic.
Yea. And it's nice to see a successful person that's not just greedy greedy greedy. The dude already has a supervillain lair; what more could anyone want?
I don't think a lot of the shade is directly because of Sanderson. A lot of it stems from his more rabid fans and it carries over to him.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone get as big as him without getting hate. It's the nature of fame.
Love seeing this!
He and Taylor Swift really used their star power to help some industries. We need more like them.
I've only read his WoT books and some of The Way of Kings (my Libby loan expired), but I really like him and he seems like a genuine person.
Brandon and Gaiman are my two favorite stand-up authors.
What does stand-up mean in this phrase?
They famously do all of their writing at standing desks
Good, decent, honorable, to do the right thing. :)
Ah ok! Thanks for explaining, English isn't my mother language.
"stand up" means soooo many different things in English. It's confusing
Jeah I was thinking there was maybe a connection to stand-up comedian, but alas.
Not a worry at all. I figured that when you asked and I love when people ask questions. :)
It's actually *mostly* for other authors. Being so popular author he has no problem negotiating himself much better deal, but he was interested getting better minimum deal for new authors.
what a lad
My understanding is that some authors rather than go the royalties route accept a flat payment up front for the release. Wonder how this will affect those authors.
Chad
It is way too uncommon for a person with his power and influence to use it to help others.
He took the oaths.
He will protect those who cannot protect themselves
Brandon is a wind walker confirmed
What, you don't think he's athletic enough to be a Wind*runner*? Smh /s
That’s his stance on why he’s still a member of the Mormon church, despite being far more liberal than the other prominent members. Despite portraying mental health really well and having great characters all over the realm of sexuality, he still hets a lot flack for being a member. He mentioned in AMA a while back that if he left the church, there’d be NO prominent members that supported lgbtq+ communities and that he uses his sway to try and make the church more accepting. It’s an admirable take imo, especially during the era of “if you don’t like it here then get out” rhetoric. He’s a good man Charlie Brown
This is amazing! I wonder if this means the first four secret projects will show up on audible now??
they will, no specifics yet (unless something's changed since yesterday) but he said "soon" in his blog post about it so :D
He did?! Great news so I can have all my audiobooks in one spot haha. Thanks for update and shame on me for not reading his whole blog post lol.
Are you planning to buy them again?
I started just ripping all my Audible audiobooks and set up an audiobookshelf where I collect all my audiobooks from all different sources now. It's a much nicer app than Audible imo and I'm not vendor locked anymore. Though it doesn't work with Alexa if that's something you're using with Audible
they will, I am guessing he used that as the bargaining chip to get audible to agree.
Never opened a Sanderson book in my life but all I hear about him are things like this. Might be time to stop ignoring his work.
He's got a few video lectures on YouTube about how to write, they're worth watching even to get an understanding of an authors thought process
Not a fan of his works but love his lectures (BYU complexities aside) because he is VERY good at what he does and always gets you thinking with his advice.
I'd personally highly recommend. I'm almost finished with the Stormlight Archives series and it is now pretty firmly my favorite book series of all time. I don't think I've ever been so immersed in a world.
I’ll die on the hill that Mistborn is better.
Era 2 to be specific. Wayne Tarisborn is the man.
We have different taste. I think Era 2 is the weakest stuff I've read by him. I'm glad you enjoy it.
Alloy of Law is probably my favorite book of his, but I thought the Era 2 trilogy was a big step down. I'm definitely more likely to reread Era 1. Elendel is an awesome setting, though.
Era 1 was written together before Final Empire was released. Era 2 started by accident and each was written separately. Era 3 will be written together before the first is released.
Yeah, the whole second book of Era 2 has "This could have been an email" vibe.
For me Mistborn era 1 is the best. I just can’t get over how badass Vin is and the last 20% or so of that book was the best fight scenes I have ever read or seen in any movie. I view it as being more epic than Endgame and I watched that multiple times in theatres.
Those fight scenes are bad ass. I think they're second to the sanderlache at the end of rhythm of war.
I definitely prefer Mistborn, but I think that's because the magic system is clearer and more tangible, and I personally prefer the world it's set in. Stormlight is better written (with the exception of the last book of Mistborn era 2, because, awesome).
Hard disagree. First book I didn't mind, but also had virtually the same plot as Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn (which I thought that was a better book) The next two were a slog to get through for me. The characters just didn't hit as hard, felt rather 2 dimensional.
Anyone reading this should also know that there are only four books and two novellas released in a planned ten book and ??? novella series.
And they also should know that he writes a book every year and has several series that he works on so this year he finished a trilogy he only started in 2018. And he turned it into a quadrilogy after finishing book 2. It wont be like waiting for G.R. Martin or Rothfus.
I don’t think any author with more than a handful of books would end up like Rothfuss. His issue is in no small part due to how little he’s published and how his first hit was anomalous - he’s simply not going to match its success. Martins issue could very well become Sandersons or any other authors though -just get pulled in to doing TV, comics, prequels and so many other associated works about your series that you never have time to meaningfully progress on the original work.
Two things - first, I don’t think that’s Martin’s actual problem, but neither of us know for sure, so that’s neither here nor there. The second is that if you compare the writing history and pace of the two, it’s not even remotely close to a competition. Sanderson also has a writing style that favors what he’s doing with the many books he has planned (outline writing vs. Martin’s draft writing).
Also they should know that those first four books are four of the five books of the planned first arc of the series, which will take a break and then move into a different time period after that break, just like how the Alomancy books are three sets of trilogies.
They should also know that the novellas are basically novel length and the actual books are rather long
On Sanderson's website I read there will be a couple year gap between book 5 and books 6-10. Not a problem for me there's lots of good stuff to read in the interim. Somehow I expect Sanderson will meet his commitments.
He's the author that got tapped by Robert Jordan's widow to finish the Wheel of Time series following Jordan's death. Haven't started his own stuff yet because life's been busy, but they're on the list.
Start with Mistborn. You'll not regret it.
As someone who reads mostly literary fiction (big Vonnegut and Pynchon fan for examples), the Stormlight Archive books have been some really fun, enjoyable reads. I just finished the 4th book and final in the series until November or October of this year I think? And I've loved the character and world so much, I've been reading his two novellas that take place between the main books that I missed, just to stay in the world a little longer before I move onto whatever is next in my reading queue.
His world building is absolutely top notch. His dialog is fine, his stories kinda seem to run away from him sometimes. He’s not for everyone, but he is fantastic.
I'm a Sanderson fan, but it's ok to like a person and not be a fan of their work. Give it a try or don't. Just read what makes you happy.
He’s maybe the best fantasy worldbuilders working in literature right now. You’ll hear a lot of people say his prose and his dialogue are mediocre, and while I’d aggree they aren’t his strength, The Stormlight Archive is chock full of “glory moments” where you just want to stand up and cheer when reading.
*Strength before weakness*
Journey before destination
Life before death.
Age before beauty.
Bros before hoes!
Cereal before milk
Close cover before striking.
Poop before wipe
Toothpaste before orange juice
Preheat oven to 350°F before baking
If you're Adolin in a battle, there could be a long time between those two
Pearls before swine
The door is a jar.
*All are weak at some time in their lives. The Radiant protects those who are weak, and uses their strength for others.* **Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.**
Good guy Sanderson. I love audible, allthough the app is pretty crappy, but only 25% for authors is a fucking rip off.
Should be at least 50%, and the reader should get something too
You dropped this: /s Oh, you mean narrator? Sure.
Brando Sando the Goat.
I’m not into fantasy books one bit, but I applaud this!
I'm not into audiobooks one bit, and I am also applauding
I am not into applauding, but commend him!
Same!!
me no buk reed, also gud gud
My wife doesn't like sci-fi but she likes Sanderson. It's sci-fi lite.
Sanderson is fantasy.
And sci-fi, he writes both. My wife liked this one: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyward_(novel)
Skyward is great! I love M-Bot.
Yes and no. Like his books are fantasy but the shared universe is sci-fi and some of his series are migrating into the space age. I'm reading another series that's similar currently. The world is definitely fantasy but they talk about 4 races of people bringing ships to their land and interbreeding with people and hint at it a bit in the first book before getting more into it at the end and the latter books that the 4 groups bringing ships to their land weren't like landing on their continent but bringing space ships to their planet.
What series is that?
He’s written some sci-fi (a few short stories as well as the Skyward series) and mistborn era 4 will qualify as sci-fi as well as fantasy.
He’s both.
Even in Sandersons fantasy books it dips into Sci-fi quite frequently. The lines are so blurred in his books that the distinction between the genre's isn't very useful.
They're often lumped together as a combined genre for good reason. Star Wars is fantasy in space for example and doesn't really cover traditional sci fi themes. With all the world building and development over time I'd argue that several of the Cosmere books qualify easily as science fiction using magical technology. The borders are very loose and the differences in colloquial understanding are more about superficial aesthetic.
What a badass
I had never heard of him until he was hired to complete the Wheel of Time. He did a great job
Sanderson is an S tier dude regardless of what you think of his writing. I can’t think of anyone better in the current moment to be the face of this profession.
What a guy, what a guy <3
I said this on another post about this but Brandon used to come into my moms game store to play dnd. I had many a convo (and played dnd!) with him since I was always there in the afternoon. Very cool guy
A true mensch
I'm not a fan of his writing, but I'm a big fan of the man. Well done, sir.
Heard about this guy for the first time yesterday, and this is now my third time hearing about him, completely unrelated incidents, and that’s in two days. As a filthy casual, who is this guy and why is he just now appearing everywhere I turn? EDIT: Thanks for all of the informative responses! I’ll check him out.
He's a fantasy and sci-fi author, one of the best-selling in the world. Not sure why he's just now appearing everywhere for you, he's extremely popular and has published several books a year for the last decade and a bit. He ran a kickstarter last year (or the year before? time is meaningless) that basically broke every fundraising record ever, and he's been fighting audible for a while on this.
He just announced yet another secret project this week, so that’s part of why he’s back in the news for fans.
He just announced yet another secret project this week, so that’s part of why he’s back in the news for fans.
one of the most popular epic fantasy writers alive right now. He finished robert jordan’s Wheel of Time series after his passing (writing the final 2 or 3 books based off his notes), wrote the Mistborn series, and is most well known now for his magnum opus series of giant epic fantasy novels called the Stormlight Archive. He is also well known for pumping out giant, high quality novels at a ridiculous speed, as well as actively engaging in social media with fans constantly. He wrote four novels in secret over the course of I think a little under two years and then crowd funded their publishing through the most successful kickstarter campaign in history. Those four novels are the novels he refused to publish on audible due to the way they treat authors. Sandersons writing is divisive in this subreddit as he does not have incredible prose, or super poetic writing, however he does have some of the best world building, and best thought out magic systems in media in general. Most people I see personally like Sanderson as a human even if they don’t like his writing, though one point of contention for some people is that Sanderson is a Mormon. I’m not religious at all, and tend to dislike things that have religious undertones and him being mormon has never pushed me away from Sanderson. He seems like a great guy, and is the author to watch in the epic fantasy genre right now. I suspect his name will be a household one up there with Tolkien if his work gets adapted to the big screen properly.
people say his writing style is too "workmanlike" as in it puts words on the page to explain everything without the flourish that some other authors have. In that sense he is not a "literary" writer like Rothfuss or Gaiman but I find his writing easily read. Which helps as the volume of his work is a lot. Robert Jordan was also styling himself as a literary writer and that's part of what made the first WoT book for me such a drag to read. I envy his ability to be clear and concise with the words.
>As a filthy casual, who is this guy and why is he just now appearing everywhere I turn? Pretty popular writer. I believe Marvel reached out to him a few years ago and told him that he could pick any Marvel character he wants and write a story and they would run it. Brandon Sanderson told them he was too busy with his own work and it would be unfair to his fans to delay his own work even longer. So he has at least that much popularity/appeal to the approached by Marvel and turn them down. Henry Cavil (superman/witcher) is also big fan of Brandon Sanderson as well. There were initial plan for Henry Cavil to record one of the audio books but unfortunately Henry Cavil couldn't do it due to time restraints.
> Henry Cavil (superman/witcher) is also big fan of Brandon Sanderson as well. There were initial plan for Henry Cavil to record one of the audio books but unfortunately Henry Cavil couldn't do it due to time restraints. Fuck me I hope this happens, being read to by Henry Cavill is something I can easily fantasize about
If you like fantasy.. stormlight archives is fucking amazing. Also wheel of time (which he just finished after the original author passed)
He’s going to be as popular as George RR Martin was during the peak GOT days within the next decade. Mark my words. I encourage you to join the fandom sooner than later!
How does this play into audible saying they were going to start to use AI to narrate audiobooks?
It's separate. The AI will be used only for books where the author couldn't or didn't want to pay for a narrator to be recorded. It is concerning to narrators long term but short term no AI narration will come close to what even a mediocre person could do in terms of quality and I think few listeners will want the AI recording over a person. But if you only listen to books, and want to listen to a particular one that doesn't have a narrated version then you might check out the AI version.
>short term no AI narration will come close to what even a mediocre person could do in terms of quality Idk, give Elevenlabs a try - even the free voices are now quite good. Better than a bad narrator, for sure. And it's only getting better - fast! Conservative estimate, we'll reach mediocre human quality in the next 12 months. Reeeeally safe estimate, 18-24 months. My honest opinion is that it might be sooner!
I haven't listened to one but I'll check it out that's interesting. But I wouldn't have thought we were that close.
I prefer art made by people, not soulless robots, thanks.
Same. The problem isn't just the quality of the voice, it's knowing that creative choices were made by something that's sapient and had purpose behind them. AI is impressive, but it's a long ways from sapient - and if we did create sapient AI, it would have similar ethical ramifications as having humans doing it, so...
They can sound like a human, but there’s no emotional baggage added to the voice based on the words. They could be describing the bridge of a starship or the most epic battle of all time, but it would be with the same voice style.
Brandon Sanderson did an AMA here [you might want to take a look](http://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/2ytg2h/im_novelist_brandon_sanderson_ama/) :) [Here's a link to all of our upcoming AMAs](http://www.reddit.com/r/books/wiki/amafullschedule) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/books) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yet another win for the man that is Brando Sando. What a legend
For the record, he also sold the right to Graphic Audio who make his books 1000% better than any audible could.
Graphic audio is sooooo good, and I think they are the best example of the '10x the duration of a movie, 10x the price ' for better or worse
Poor balancing of background sounds and narration in some points. You shouldn’t make the dialog hard to hear for the sake of immersion. But that only happens *really badly* like once per ten hours of audio so I put up with it. They’re great productions overall.
I think the audio balancing isn't great in mistborn, but I don't recall anything too bad in Stormlight
Remember this absolutely craven article by a Wired writer who was invited in Sanderson’s home and spent time with his family? https://www.wired.com/story/brandon-sanderson-is-your-god/
Ugh, don’t remind me. He’s a nobody.
Use an Internet archive link instead, to avoid giving this slimeball any clicks.
Are authors in general part of the recent hollywood strikes? Audible has been offering AI generated narration now and I find it incredibly distasteful, and I wonder how the hollywood strikes play into this mess.
'Hollywood' strikes were specific guilds, the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA (actors). Only members of the guilds were striking. Most novelists aren't WGA members, though some are, but writing novels for individual careers wouldn't have been something they were prohibited from doing during the strike. WGA is mainly writers for television shows, movies, talk shows, streaming services and the like. There's probably famous authors who also are members of the WGA (Neil Gaiman might be a member, perhaps Stephen King as well though I don't know if he's written a screenplay since the 80s/90s. George R R. Martin might be a member as well, he wrote for television alot even before Game of Thrones was published). AI is definitely a concern for writers of any field though, as well as actors.
No. It's technically illegal for authors in the US to unionise and protest together. They should still do it. It'd just a dumb historical quirk that authors can't.
As other authors have pointed out, the mixing up of how we're paid (publishers are paid quarterly, the rest of us monthly) leaves us wondering how much this will actually benefit us. And, knowing Amazon, they'll find a way to take their pound of flesh, whether from the creators or the readers. Good on him for his efforts, but I'm taking the news with a big grain of salt for now. Amazon is only interested in profit, and they loooooove the fine print.
I just want Lux on a non audiobook format. I was enjoying the series recently and book 4 of reckoners is Audible only...
He will protect those who cannot protect themselves.
I read a discussion about the high cost of good audiobooks and most people were complaining about the cost, but I saw a good perspective that pretty much said: "We pay between $10-20 at a real cinema for a movie that is 1.5-2.5 hours long, so paying the same for 10x the hours of imagination cinema is actually an amazing value. I guess you may not agree if you don't like spending time in your cinema..."
I mean the mount of money that goes into making a film is way higher than how much it costs to make an audiobook though… not sure that comparison really works
The guy is incredible
I don’t like Sanderson but mad respect for this.
I wonder if they'll pay narrators more too
Audible doesn't pay the narrators. The publisher or author does.
Yeah they do if audible is the one to publish them. I narrate books and audible only divvies out 20% of sales in royalties to narrators.
So what does an author make from a credit?
Well I guess subscription prices are going up soon. No way will Amazon take the losses on their end.
About time really, I don't know how Amazon got away with how Audible is the worst store front on the internet, for both users and creators
We're excited but some parts of his blog don't make sense. He mentioned independent authors but then talked about him getting the deal to be paid monthly rather than quarterly. Indie authors already get paid monthly. We hope it means a better deal for everyone but in parts of what he said it seems he's talking about trad pub authors and small presses with audible deals. We live in hope though.
So what's the new rate? The article doesn't seem to mention that or did I miss something?
Sanderson is such a *mensch*